Windows 10: Is this why my disk space is ballooning and my system is about to crash?

This is what I had when things started going downhill:


Inspiron 3668

MS Windows 10, Professional (64-bit)

Intel Core i7-7700

16 GB installed of 32 GB supported

SK Hynix 128 GB

Western Digital 1 TB

Toshiba 1 TB


I have no idea why the Toshiba is there (I only had a WD external drive connected).


Then I think shortly after a recent Windows update, my very stable system suddenly began to lose disk space very quickly. I ran all sorts of diagnostics, including a Duplicate cleaner which found thousands upon thousands of duplicate files. Deleting most of them and the recycle bin didn't fix the problem, or even reduce storage usage at all. I have very good security on it, and my virus scans are all fine. I've also run Dell diagnostics, and made sure everything is up to date. I checked for corrupted or missing files with various Windows file checkers.


I also ran a WinDirStat, which indicates Windows taking up 55.1% of my disk space (that seems like an awful lot to me, and certainly a lot more than before my system began crashing). That doesn't seem to match the size for it, either (16.6 GB). The rest of my files also seem to be using much more space than normal:





All my diagnostics report a healthy system, so far. I ran them again after deleting all the duplicate files. I decided at some point, to disconnect my WD external drive, and I currently have Windows 10.0.17134 Build 17134. I recently ran Diskpart to take a look at the partitions. Can this be the problem? And should I reconnect my WD external drive for backup and/or for extra storage space? (I'm not sure what to store on it, other than backup.) I'm thinking about clearing my few photo files out of Data, too. I ran this diskpart as a last resort, after disconnecting the external drive, and all the diagnostics I could think of doing. I sense that I need to fix the partitions somehow, and I know that there are some fairly good tutorials for doing so, but I don't know which partitions shown below (if any) may be causing the problem.





Thanks in advance.


PS: I only use my PC for light-duty, personal home use (no other users), no gaming or business.

:)

 

hard disk space

Hello,

Taking into consideration that the free space is shrinking fast, it is possible that your system is creating restore points. To
delete restore points except for the recent one, simply follow the steps below:

• From the Cortana search box, type Disk Cleanup and click on the first result.
• Once the Disk Cleanup window appears, select the
  More Options tab.
• Under the System Restore and Shadow Copies column, click on the
  Clean up... button.

Once done with the steps, see if your disk space has expanded.

If you have further questions, please let us know.

 

My disk space is gone

Hi John,

Thank you for posting the query on Microsoft Community.

I do appreciate your efforts and time.

Try to run theSystem Maintenance Troubleshooter.

• 
  Press Windows key + W and type
  Troubleshooting.
  
• 
  Select Troubleshooting.
  
• 
  Select view all on the top left corner.
  
• 
  Click System Maintenance,
  follow onscreen instructions.
  

I suggest you to run Check Disk which performs an analysis of the disk. Refer to the steps below:

• Press Windows key + X.
• Click on Command prompt (Admin).
• Type chkdsk /f and hit enter.

For reference:

Tips to free up drive space on your PC:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/free-up-disk-space

Hope this helps in resolving the issue. If the issue persists, do get back to us. We will be happy to assist you.

 

Help! New system keeps crashing

It's runing through them now. It's a step forward, as the problem was the system crashing as soon as I pressed the key to boot from the disk, it crashed before I even got to install it. When it's done, I'll burn another copy, see if that works.